When Peer Pressure Nukes Linux for Windows

I have a teenage son. He has been using GNU/Linux since he was about 5 years old. He prefers his GNU/Linux and has convinced a few of his peers to run GNU/Linux as well.

I've built computers for him throughout the years. And there were a couple of occasions when he seemed to want Windows installed instead. I told him that he's welcome to do so... but he's on his own if he does. And so, he didn't, and he is a happy teenager with his GNU/Linux... and recognized as the local computer and technology expert within his peer group, even though that peer group includes budding Engineers at a specialized technology High School.

Hopefully, I'll be a grandfather one day. And if I build a computer for the grandkids... it will be running GNU/Linux. If that computer happens to run MS Windows at some other time, I will not help 'fix' it... Unless that fix includes re-installation of the proper OS.

people will always turn to those closest to them for support. be it friends, peers or relatives.

it happened to my grandmother too. she got a computer in 1993 that i set up with OS/2. as you can expect, when i came to visit her a few months later, some helpful soul had put windows on it.

and it wasn't even any form of peer pressure. she just didn't know any better. i think that the situation in the article also wasn't really peer pressure. it looks to me like the boy there didn't know any better either.

it is easy to withstand such outside influence to switch to windows if you have a linux expert in the house. when i moved in with my grandmother, switching her computer to linux was a no-brainer, because i was able to support her on every little issue, even to the point of her learning how to use the commandline (her choice, after observing me work)

so i believe the key to switching people to linux is to be the first person they would turn to for support, or wait until they run into trouble with windows that is serious enough so that they want to switch on their own and not go back.

greetings, eMBee.

Unfortunately, peer pressure isn't the only thing that you need to worry about. There is also hardware lock-out. My ex-wife bought my daughter a cheap "laptop" for Xmas (really, a netbook). My daughter brought it home, after her weekend visit to her mom's, in order to have me install Linux on it. Unfortunately, it being a cheap Windows 10 machine, the vendor has locked the bootloader to Windows. Even after accessing the BIOS, I still couldn't get a Linux DVD to load... That kind of thing is going to limit Linux adoption among those who might be willing to try it.

The Asus C201 Chromebook has been "opened" by Paul Kocialkowski, It possible to install the Libreboot bootloader and Arch Linux on it, you have to know what your are doing, because it's not easy. I let install my C201 Chromebook by a friend of mine It's also possible to buy one pre installed by: https://minifree.org/product/libreboot-c201/

Then there will be Debian installed on it, I made a short movie of my C201: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8fJMQDVAGo